[Diana_Elaine]

Hiya,

New here today ... and hoping one of you tech guys can help me.

I obtained a 'used' ATI Radeon 4870 video card ... from my son who works for a business, that's getting all new equipment. He was told he could buy whatever hardware he wanted .. so he bought me a video card that I can use for Second Life, since mine is not good enough.

Of course, it came with no CD or drivers, etc ... and I'm not exactly sure which card it is, but from searching online with pictures and descriptions, it looks to be the ATI Radeon 4870 or 4870 x2.

I think I have the right drivers .. found them online .. and downloaded them, I did download several different ones to be safe .. for windows XP, windows Vista and windows 7. BUT: no matter what drivers I install, the computer isn't recognizing the card is even there.

Going into Device Manager ... only shows my old card (which is on board) and nothing else.Son suggested disabling on board card, but if I do that .. and it doesn't work .. to pick up the new card, how do I enable my old card again, when the monitor won't work with old card disabled? Or am I missing something here .. about disabling and enabling?

Everything is in good and tight .. checked and rechecked. I plugged the power supply into the card .. yes.
Power supply is new @ 450.

Here's what I have:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual
Core Processor 5000+
2.61 GHz, 1.87 GB of RAM

Running Windows XP Home Edition

Anything else you need to know .. just ask.

Thanks!
Diana

[BG-0]

A generic crap quality "450W" power supply is severely insufficient for a 4870, not to talk about a 4870X2. Even a high quality 450W unit is pretty tight for a 4870, 4870X2 won't work properly.
That's the first issue...

Yes, disabling your onboard graphics is something you should do. If it fails, you can reset your CMOS and it will be back to the default setting, which is enabled.

[Diana_Elaine]

Hi BG:

Thanks so much for the reply .... let me ask you, what size power supply would you recommend for that card?

Second: are there any other connections on the card, that need to be hooked up, other than the power supply?

Last: since I'm a bit new at BIOS and CMOS .. ... are you saying that I can reset the CMOS to the default setting, even after I've disabled the on board graphics, and the computer doesn't pick up the new card?

Thanks!
Diana

[Rich-M]

Minimum 450 watt but brand name only as the quality is more important than the wattage. Antec, Enermax, Thermaltake or Corsair are all good quality.

[Diana_Elaine]

Thanks Rich ... I'll have to go find the box and see what I bought.

[crjdriver]

I agree that a 450W is bare minimum for that card. Depending on what else it is powering, you may or may not have problems. With that card, I would like to see a min of 35amp on the 12V rail[s]

To properly install your card;
1 Remove ie uninstall any old driver. This would be the video driver for the onboard video.
2 Disable the onboard video as per your manual. Each board is a little different. Some you do this in the bios, some with a jumper [old method not used much any longer] some just by inserting the new card disables the onboard. Again read your manual.
3 Shutdown and install the new card.
4 Pw ON and install the newest driver. You can download this from the amd/ati site.

[BG-0]

Resetting the CMOS does not require you to even power up your system, so yes, you can do that with the onboard disabled and the add-on card non-functioning.

Do you know if the card was bought new? You could always just have a bust card...

[Diana_Elaine]

Just wanted to let you all know ... never could install this video card .. no matter what I did, puter didn't recognize it. Going to send it back to my son .. and buy my own.

Now to decide what I need for Second Life ...

Diana

[Mosquito555]

If you decide to buy another card check this one out:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-829-_-Product

It's cheap, probably a lot better than your onboard GPU and of course, it doesn't require a beast of a PSU in order to work.

[Rich-M]

Originally Posted by Mosquito555

If you decide to buy another card check this one out:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-829-_-Product

It's cheap, probably a lot better than your onboard GPU and of course, it doesn't require a beast of a PSU in order to work.

Yes great card but do you realize you listed a "low profile" card here?

[Mosquito555]

Yeah, I thought that a low profile card may be a better option for a non gamer...

But I'm not sure where the problem is...Can't a low profile card be used on a "normal" computer?

[Rich-M]

Originally Posted by Mosquito555

Yeah, I thought that a low profile card may be a better option for a non gamer...

But I'm not sure where the problem is...Can't a low profile card be used on a "normal" computer?

No it won't fit the slots as the bracket is shorter. There are some full size cards that come with low profile brackets so I guess it is possible to change it for a full bracket if you can find one that fits the card.

[Mosquito555]

Originally Posted by Rich-M

No it won't fit the slots as the bracket is shorter. There are some full size cards that come with low profile brackets so I guess it is possible to change it for a full bracket if you can find one that fits the card.

Oh, sorry, I didn't know that...

Anyway, I stand corrected, it's never a bad time to learn something new, right?

[Rich-M]

Originally Posted by Mosquito555

Oh, sorry, I didn't know that...

Anyway, I stand corrected, it's never a bad time to learn something new, right?

Absolutely not, I try to do that every day!

[BG-0]

The same card as a full-size version from HIS should do for you: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161303
If you think you can afford it, the IceQ cooled 4670 wouldn't be a bad step up... Mostly for the better cooler. Your PSU might be a bit more on its last wits with this one though... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161287
Just to make sure, please post the exact model of your power supply, or a picture of the sticker on its side... You could also list what it says on it, but it's usually quite hard for anyone not knowing about things to tell what to list, and to list them somewhat correctly...